Both of my sons and I are on the Autism Spectrum. While not debilitating for us, being on the spectrum has its own unique set of difficulties in life. Loud noises and busy environments make for some of the most difficult trials to get through for many people with Autism and in today’s world there seems to be no shortage of the two.

When I was in my youth, I found that shows like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Bob Ross Painting had a soothing effect on my mind and my body that could not otherwise be explained and every once in a while, the stroke of a paint brush on Bob Ross, or the sound of a toy train combined with a video close up on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood would send a shiver across my head and down my spine.

As my wife and I had children, the lights of our lives, we both noticed that some of the same things that bothered me, would also make them uncomfortable or distracted. Luckily, having discussed Autism in great length, Kelley and I had a game plan to provide a soothing environment that would be conducive to the promotion of relaxation and calm.

While searching on Youtube for relaxing and calming videos, we were delighted to discover that what helped me and my children had a name, ASMR.

After further research and some trials and errors, we found that ASMR videos provided not only a great soothing and relaxing environment for our children, it also triggered this beautiful stimuli in both my wife and I.

With years of enjoyment under our belt, Kelley and I were talking late one night and decided that it was time for us to finally give back to the ASMR Community after taking in so much from it in hopes that the videos could do for others what other videos had done for us for so long. We are pleased to now create ASMR videos that we feel induce relaxation and ASMR through crisp focused visual stimulation and clear audio triggers. For us, even though ASMR might not be something that has already been experienced by everyone in the world, we hope that everyone will give it a try and at the very least, find peace in the tranquil environment that the ASMR Community invokes through our collective delight in this wonder-filled feeling.

Life is unpredictable and we are all faced with challenges but how we cope is the most important part.

I am Snetha (Sunita) and I would like to share my journey as an ASMR viewer and artist. I am British Indian and a parent of two children but sadly my younger son has Microcephaly and complex needs. This condition is rare whereby the brain is underdeveloped causing developmental delays as well as other complications.
Soon after his birth in 2009 I became a parent-carer. We didn’t have much help nor was I informed about how to manage his disability.

One of the worst difficulties was that he won’t sleep causing us both to have server sleep deprivation. We still struggle now but the type of sleep challenges have changed.
I decided to search for calming videos then found WhisperCrystal and to my delight my son was really responsive. He seemed to focus on her voice and sounds then began to sway to the gentle music.
Then we discovered WhisperFlower; we enjoyed her doing tasks and sharing her thoughts.
Also KiwiWhispers ASMR; we loved watching him make paper planes or as he went through his DVD collection. And not forgetting OmniWhisper; his voice was soothing as he shared spiritual material.
These artists and so many more helped my son become calm and relaxed.
However, I too began to relax when watching these videos and found myself having pleasant tingly sensations. I was completely unaware of why it was happening…
Over time I saw that my son was having these tingles too as he would laugh and smile immensely which was delightful for me to see.

Our life is isolating. I gave up my career and my social life had changed. Yes, we attended special occasions or events but it is difficult to manage my son. He needs constant supervision and support.
I only have a few friends that I see every so often.
When watching the videos I found that these wonderful artists were also keeping us company in some way but safe in our home. I am happy we discovered the ASMR community and I began to understand what ASMR is.

I decided to share these experiences with the professionals involved in his care but sadly I wasn’t taken seriously. If children have sensory processing issues like my son, isn’t it clear that ASMR will help them. I am aware that research is limited about what “tingles” are but we know it is a relaxing, pleasant and a sleep inducing sensation. Could this be stimulating the Temporal Lobes in the brain?
I have witnessed this wonderful sensation with my son and myself.
Regardless of being ignored we continued using ASMR videos. It has been delightful to watch how much the community has grown.

Although life continued to be difficult, scary and upsetting I felt that the ASMR community was our escape but mine more so. At some point I wished I could be part of it and help others as we were and still are helped.

Then in early 2015, I began my channel as CoconutsWhisper.
My journey as an artist has had so many pleasant surprises. At the start, I was ever so nervous as I filmed my first video which was a very basic “show and tell” one without me on camera. Once uploaded, I wondered if I will be accepted in the community. To my delight people began to support my channel. In particular Sweet_Irish_Whispers and WhispersparklesASMR. These two amazing ladies supported me and gave me guidance of how to manage my channel. I deeply thank them and many more artists I have now met. I am excited to say that I have become friends with many of them.
During the filming process I learnt to become relaxed and focused while I shared video material. It is amazing how good I felt when I was talking to someone and then to have wonderful responses to the videos.
My aim was to share simple yet educational material as well as popular content. I want my viewers to have the same enjoyment I have with the videos. The only difficulty I seem to have is that I don’t think potential viewers can find my channel. This could be due to some of the video content which is unique as I share my Indian culture. I don’t think viewers would search for ASMR Indian Bindi collection for example. Regardless of that, I love escaping to my channel and having contact with my wonderful viewers. Filming has also allowed me to dress up for the occasional video which makes me feel better and I found myself having fun again.

From having such a fantastic and encouraging response from my viewers especially when I am on camera, has given me so much more confidence whereby I began another journey.

I created another YouTube channel focused on wellbeing called Bibi’s. I am making videos about my son’s condition and possible ways to help him. The 1st one is focused on his overall health state called Microcephaly MRI results – What does it all mean?
I would also like to make a video about how ASMR helped us which other parents could find useful. However, which channels should I recommend for special needs children or adults? As we know our community is huge and hard to find particular videos.

Furthermore, I would like to create Special Needs ASMR videos. However, I need to do more research and think of how to help them focus. I would appreciate any help from other artists to accomplish that. I was lucky that my son was naturally receptive to ASMR but some may struggle.

We still have many difficulties and my son’s future is unpredictable but I have HOPE…
His condition has become well known recently due to new cases in Brazil. We send our love to all families that are dealing with this and hope my new channel could help them too. I admit that much of what I have read in the media has had me in tears as I completely empathise with them.

To summarise, I am deeply thankful we found you all and that each step as a viewer and artist has bought an amazing change in my life.

I thank every ASMR artist and viewer for helping us cope with our challenging life!

Well besides the benifit of stress relief and helping with sleep i just recently experienced a new benifit. Im new to the ASMR community and there videos even though i have been experiencing the sensations since childhood i never knew what it was.
Well last night i found myself suffering from a terrible head and chest cold. Very painful and aggravating. Yet i found that during the viewing of “steamy spa” by GentleWhispering, my symptoms were almost all temporally relieved. The tension and pain almost all subsided and i fell into a deep restful healing sleep. I still woke up with the cold the next morning but the relief i found from the video the night before was real and unmistakable.